Old Friends
Episode 1, Season 5 of War. A huge thanks to everyone who reads and an even bigger one to those who comment. This series would have never come this far without you guys. Thank you for listening to all my rantings, enduring all my questions, and obsessiveness. A big thanks from WaterClan! Old Friends "-and so," Gorsefur meowed. "In light of all that we've suffered, please let our squad be disbanded." Waterstar peered at him with dark eyes. She sat down and wrapped her tail neatly around her paws. "You guys do seem to get all the sucky ones, don't you?" He was surprised by her informality, but he nodded. She put a paws over him, meant to be comforting. He fought the urge to pull away. "Gorsefur, I would let you. You all have suffered more than any cats have a right to. But," she stood, pacing again. "With EarthClan entering the war, we have to have all of our squads out in the field," she almost looked genuine. "I'm sorry." He dipped his heads, muttered some thanks, and got out of there. Main was bustling. All these cats, not even knowing the dangers they were in. Not even knowing how much the world hated them. Gorsefur used to think he wanted to save the world. To stop the wars and hunger and greencough. To be good, as best as he could be. But the world just kept spitting on him. Did it deserve saving? Riverkit is enjoying this way too much. I stand with the mothers, watching as the gaggle of kits trip over their paws and tails, yowling and chatting and tackling. Riverkit leads them. He always gets to be Waterstar. The other kits revere him, as him for advice, let him choose the games and who he gets to be. The mothers adore him too. I don't blame them- my little brother is adorable and sweet and kind and smart. I just hope it doesn't go to his head. He scampers over to me now, the other kits watching him sadly. "Hey, Brookfall? Can we go get some food? I'm hungry." I purr and nod, saying goodbye to the mothers as I lead Riverkit to the prey. It's a shorter walk, now that we live in a spacious den by Waterstar's, and not in the cramped den the entire squad shared back in the Barracks. I guess that's what happened when you're the last members of your camp, and war heroes, no less. I get a squirrel for me and a fish for Riverkit. He loves it, since he's grown up by the river. I was born where the only water around was a creek. Not very WaterClan-like. I turn to go back to where Riverkit sits on a rock and almost bump into Gorsefur. Immediately, I side-step him and pad towards my little brother. "Brookfall, wait," I hear Gorsefur chasing after me, but I really don't want to talk to him. I drop the fish by Riverkit, "Here," I meow tersely. He shrinks a little and starts eating. I hear Gorsefur stop behind me. "Brookfall-" "You know what the worst part is?" I ask, deciding that I want to explode instead of keep silent. "The worst part is that you told me squads were like families. And guess what? You guys are my family now, because my camp is all dead." I can see Riverkit flinch, but I keep going. "And, just when I'm starting to really feel that, to be happy again, you decide you can't deal with it." His eyes beg me to understand. "I just...we've suffered so much." I choke out a laugh and he knows he's barking up the wrong tree. "Sorry, Gorsefur. Last time I checked, your parents are still alive, you command an entire squad, you're surrounded by friends, and all of the she-cats here stare at you." "At least you still have a little brother!" he finally gives up the whole 'rational' route. "And you don't have to deal with the knowledge that every single mistake, every single loss is on you. You don't wake up from nightmares where Grayleaf's dead, or Shadowsong's screaming." "But I could!" the solution seems clear to me. "It's been a moon, you have to choose a second, right?" "Fine! You're my second," Gorsefur fumes. Then his eyes soften, "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry too," "I love you," he purrs. He touches his nose to mine, then we both realize we've gathered a crowd. "Get lost," he mutters, leading the way back to our den. "So what's up?" I meow, heart dancing in my chest. He loves me. I mean, I knew that, but he loves me! "Your family is safe," his whiskers twitch. "Waterstar needs us. We have to get the others, then we go back to the usual madness." "Great!" I resist the urge to prance around and laugh at him. "So...um...we'd better get going, huh?" "What about Riverkit?" I look down to see my little brother looking up at me hopefully, "I could-" "You're not coming," I sigh. I turn back to Gorsefur and feel my ears start to grow hot, "Um...Riverclaw will take care of him." His eyes bug out of his head, "You have the deputy kitsitting?" "Well, after the whole....thing...he took an interest." I allow myself to brag a little, "He might become his apprentice." "That's awesome!" Gorsefur exclaims. He picks Riverkit up and swings him around by the scruff of his neck. When Riverkit was a moon old and we had to take him with us to Main, that was one of the only things that would get him to stop being sad or whiny. Riverkit giggles and gives me a headbutt, "See you later!" He charges out of the den. "See you later," I murmur. "Ready to get Adderscar?" Gorsefur asks. "I was just asking myself," I say, walking out of the den, "Wouldn't it be great if I could go get insults hurled at me?" "My thoughts exactly," Gorsefur purrs. "What are you doing?" Adderscar huffs. "We're making a mossball team and we know how much you enjoy it," Gorsefur meows sarcastically. Adderscar rolls over, his poison green eyes narrowed, "Quite frankly, I don't really want to see either of you. You saved my life." "He says it like it's a bad thing," Gorsefur mutters. I nudge him and give him a look. Thundercloud poisoned Adderscar to get him out of the way/make him the catalyst for his evil master plan. We managed to save Adderscar, but he wasn't all too pleased. Apparently he was waiting for Silverflower to take him to StarClan. "Adderscar, we have to go get the others," I meow gently. He flicks his ear, but doesn't respond, which I take as a good sign. "Adderscar, you're the only one smart enough to help...please?" He looks at me, anguished. "If I'm so smart, why did I eat those stupid berries?" he whispers. I realize he's guilty, something I'm not used to seeing on his face. "You just wanted to show up Briarclaw, it's okay," I soothe. "Please. The others need you." Adderscar looks at me, then up in the sky. Maybe he's talking to Silverflower, I don't know. Finally, he nods. "Fine." "So where'd they run off to?" Adderscar asks, his curiosity betraying him. "They didn't really tell anyone, but they'll be on the FireClan border. Probably close to where we were when Grayleaf and Shadowsong were taken." Adderscar nods and I give him a friendly nudge. "We'll find them." "Obviously," Adderscar rolls his eyes, but he seems a little more relaxed. "We're getting near to the border," Gorsefur meows quietly. There's silence for a few moments as we scent the air. Adderscar has the best nose, so he leads us up and down the stretch of land. "They went...over. But they came back, just another way," "How can you tell?" I ask, impressed. "Simply, really. You can tell they went over, because of the tracks and the scent. But you can tell they came back over because, you see that path of pawsteps?" I look, and sure enough, a few foxlengths over, I see it. "So?" "They were walking...the strides are short. But then they were running. They saw something. They chased them...and then Stormflight and Oakclaw looped back around," "That's awesome," I tell him. "Come on, let's go!" I lead the way, feeling a hint of thrill. They're in a bush. I slow for a moment, wondering if it's some rabbits or something, but it's them. The two best fighters on the squad are hiding in a bush. I can't resist. I crouch and slowly stalk forward. I get so close that I'm literally standing between them. I take a giddy breath, and leap into the bush yowling, "Surprise!" I'm still curled up laughing when Gorsefur and Adderscar catch up. Stormflight's staring at his paws, trembling a little and Oakclaw's cursing. I know, they've probably been hiding out from FireClan for a day or two and have been on edge. But it was so funny. "Wow," Gorsefur meowed, whiskers twitching. "You guys look good," "I'm glad I'm not Shadowsong or Grayleaf," Adderscar adds. "If this was my rescue, I'd probably just accept the inevitable." "We were doing reconnaissance," Oakclaw mutters. Adderscar nods, but his eyes gleam with mirth. "Well, we're coming with you, anyways," Gorsefur sighs. "I thought you were getting the squad disbanded?" Stormflight asks, tipping his head. "He-he," I struggle to breathe between laughs. "He tried. It didn't happen." I dissolve back into giggles and Oakclaw mutters something. "We need to break Grayleaf out first," Adderscar meows, always he strategist. "He'll be easier to get and...to be honest, a medicine cat is more important than another warrior." Oakclaw growls, hackles rising and I stop my purring. Adderscar, blithe as usual, turns to Gorsefur, "You have any ideas?" Gorsefur swallows. "We...we need to be careful. Really careful. This is serious stuff and...I just think we should be careful." "You and I once broke into a FireClan prison, the two of us. For fun," Oakclaw meows, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "I just...think...we should be careful," Gorsefur defends. "Gorsefur," Oakclaw meows bossily. "As your second-" "I'm his second, actually," I meow brightly. Oakclaw glowers at me, "Brookfall, if you are joking, so help me StarClan-" "She's not," Gorsefur meows. "It's been a moon, and you went traipsing off to...do reconnaissance." Oakclaw starts to argue, but Stormflight interrupts, "Can we get back to the part about getting Grayleaf?" "Right," Adderscar meows, "Well, from what I managed to gather from our spies, he's in the camp at Red Rocks. That's a big camp. A well protected camp." "But we can do it, right?" Stormflight looks terrified. "Maybe," Adderscar blinks, "We do need to be careful though. And if we could find a guard or someone to help us, that would be great. Since we're just getting out Grayleaf though, it would be easiest, at break or a meal to just grab him and get out." Everyone nods and Oakclaw finally asks what we're all thinking, "What about Shadowsong?" Gorsefur looks at his paws, leaving Adderscar to take the hit. The ginger tom swallows. "She...we'll try. But she's traveling with two of FireClan's most important, most dangerous assassins. Besides, as long as she thinks there's a chance any of us," his eyes linger on Oakclaw, "Could get hurt, she wouldn't do anything." "It's like when she took the recruits to hunt foxes," Stormflight mutters, "She was always so eager to be the noble sacrificial one." Oakclaw looks down and I remember all those long, terrible nights when he and I would ache together, when Gorsefur and Shadowsong were captured. I move to stand next to him and press against him. "We'll get her back," I murmur. "You know Shadowsong- there's not a cat in the forest who could keep her away from you." He blinks at me gratefully and Adderscar interrupts, "That's all touching, but we really need to work on a plan. Red Rocks has a high ratio of guards to prisoners- it's not where the most important or dangerous prisoners go, but it is were the majority is. Since Grayleaf is a medicine cat, they may have him working. He may have personal guards." We bounce ideas back and forth all night. We could get Briarclaw and her fancy new squad to help. We could pretend to be EarthClan. We could just run in screaming and grab him, kill all the guards, and leave. (Guess which one was Oakclaw's idea.) But at the end of the night, it still comes down to the fact that we don't know what to do. "Why don't we just go and see it?" I meow, not for the first time. The toms all shake their heads, determined to come up with a daring plan. I roll my eyes and slump to the ground, exhausted. Riverkit is probably having dinner with Riverclaw now. I hope he's behaving himself. "Why don't we just go and see it in the morning, make a plan then," Gorsefur finally meows. "Good idea," the other mutter back, heading off to get moss. I feel the urge to scream. I head off to get my moss, eyes bleary from sleep. Riverkit better be in bed by now. Riverclaw might be the deputy, but when it comes to my brother's begging, he's not exactly strong of mind. I find a nice patch of moss and have a ridiculously hard time convincing myself it's not worth it to just curl up and sleep here. I'm trying to tug it up, but this thing has crazy roots. I try yanking it up, but end up backing into a tree behind me. I curse and stand. "Need some help?" "Sure," I meow, without thinking. Because the voice is familiar and I want to trust it. But then it hits me. I look up. And see Badgerstrike. Category:Artimas Hunter's Fanfics